STONEY NAKODA – The Nakoda Elementary School gym was infested with eagles earlier this month – the Canmore Eagles.
Screaming, laughing and sticks hitting the ground echoed through the elementary school gym last Thursday (Feb. 14), as the Grade 4 and 5 children were full of smiles while playing floor hockey with the Canmore Eagles during the launch of a new hockey and literacy program.
“Being from the community it sounded like one of the best ideas in a long time,” Aimee Dixon, Nakoda Elementary PE teacher said with a smile as she stepped out of the gym. “We haven’t had community hockey here in a long time, so this sparks up a whole other interest, not just in the kids here but the entire community.”
Compromised of three bands, Chiniki, Wesley and Bearspaw, Stoney Nakoda Nation is affected by issues from violence to poverty to drug addiction and people are realizing sports have a way of turning things around.
“I had suicidal thoughts when I was younger,” Titus Simeon, 17, said quietly in the Morley Community School. “Then as I got older it got worse, but when I step on the ice it is nothing but hockey. There is no negativity, just hockey.”
Simeon described himself as someone who was “alone” in his school and home life before finding confidence and leadership skills through the sport that changed his life.
“I was scared that I wouldn’t fit in, but hockey for me has changed that,” Simeon explained. “Hockey has pretty much made me into a better person and without hockey I probably wouldn’t be in school.”
The 17-year-old hockey player is just one of the youths from the Nation who had his life changed by getting active with sports and it is through their inspiring stories Simeon and Trevor Lefthand, 17, were invited to speak at the Sport for Life Canadian Summit earlier this year in Gatineau, Que.
“They told me I was one of the students on the right path, so that’s what got me to go and tell my story,” Lefthand explained humbly.
Jumping into basketball when he was in Grade 8, Lefthand said it inspired him to push to be a better person.
“Being in sports really helped me keep the negative energy away from me like drugs and alcohol and cigarettes ... my relationship with basketball, it helps me in life become my own leader,” Lefthand said.
Simeon and Lefthand, on track to graduate Morley Community School this year, both admitted they don’t know where they would be in life if they didn’t play sports.
“Before basketball, I used to skip school a lot, so obviously I was going down the wrong path. I’d probably be chilling with the fun people and possibly even be drinking right now, so I’m glad I have basketball and without it I probably wouldn’t be in school,” Lefthand said.
It is this dedication to school and learning that teachers are trying to encourage by introducing sports to elementary-aged youth.
“We really felt like it was a missing link at our school,” said Marie Daumier, Nakoda Elementary literacy teacher. “A lot of our kids are natural athletes and they just don’t have the ability to get involved with sports, so this is our way to introduce them.”
The hockey and literacy program with the Canmore Eagles kicked off last week and organizers are hopeful to make it a weekly program, ramping it up to twice a week if the Eagles schedule allows it.
“I grew up playing sports and it teaches you discipline, it teaches you everything, manners, drive, ambition, leadership – a lot of life lessons for sure,” Dixon said.
For Simeon and Lefthand, sports gave the 17-year-olds another lifeline.
“I would say no matter what you dealt with or deal with in the past, no matter what it is, suicidal [thoughts] or whatever, people who have dealt with the hardest will succeed in the end. And I believe that because I was there once and we as Indigenous people are special ... don’t be scared to go for new changes,” Lefthand said.
Simeon wanted to remind the youth who might think they are “not very good” at their particular sport to never give up.
“You can’t waste your talents. Do what you love and don’t let anyone pull you down,” Simeon said.
“If you’re getting bullied or have family issues, take it out in sports and take it step-by-step as you go.
“It’s like being born again – you try to walk and fall down and you just have to get up again.”
